


a rendezvous in pink

by taruhi



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon-Typical Violence, Fix-It of Sorts, Gen, Kiibo not Keebo, Miu's Foul Mouth, Necronomicon, it's Ouma not Oma, no beta lmao
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-04
Updated: 2018-11-28
Packaged: 2019-08-17 08:29:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,132
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16512842
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/taruhi/pseuds/taruhi
Summary: In which Angie chooses a different room to take her candle from.





	1. rewrite

The Ultimate Artist's face maintained a peaceful, entranced smile as she guided green paint across the wax hair of one of her effigies. The paintbrush worked its way into the meticulously carved lines of Rantaro's hair, the sculpture appearing more and more human with every stroke.

Angie stood back from her - or, as she would say, Atua's - work, letting out a musical hum of satisfaction. The four statues of her deceased classmates stood in various places within the artist's talent lab, each exact replicas of their human counterparts, the folds in their clothing down to the lines in their skin all rendered in perfect detail. The almighty Atua had guided the artist's every movement, and Yonaga knew that anything He created would be flawless.  
"Nyahaha! We're almost ready for our transfer student!" she declared to the air, carefully opening the door to her lab and stepping out. A candle to burn the book - where would she find a candle?

  
_In one of the spare rooms_ , He helpfully supplied.

  
With a spring in her step and a smile curving her lips, Angie made her way to the spare rooms to obtain the candle she needed to perform the ritual. She paused before she went any further, wondering which one she should step into.

  
_The one on your right_ , Atua offered, and so Angie complied.  
As she set about prying a candle out of its metal frame, she vaguely heard a strange, scraping sound emanating from the room beside her - like the sound she would hear when cutting wood for Atua's artwork. The artist blinked for a moment, pausing in her task to listen to it. She was the only artist here, and the rooms were practically empty save for the candles, so why would someone be —  
At that moment, Atua spoke in her mind, telling his human vessel that it was nothing to concern herself with. As such, she pushed it out of her mind and, with a smile still on her face, took the candle back to her research lab to carry out Atua's will and prove to the other students that they shouldn't have doubted Him.

* * *

 

Despite having already made the decision, Angie stood before the four effigies, musing over who to resurrect. Atua certainly didn't want her bringing back a murderer, so that instantly meant Kirumi and Kaede, both of whom were Blackened, out of the picture. Hoshi had shown absolutely no will to live in the first place, son both Angie and Atua thought bringing him back would be a waste of their only Necronomicon.  
That had left Rantaro, who hadn't killed and hadn't shown any want to die. Even if he'd wanted to help everyone leave, and therefore gone against His will, Amami was the only candidate at all fit to be brought back. Atua hadn't objected, either, meaning that Angie had surely made the right decision. It didn't matter what the students not on the council thought - as God, Atua's will was law.  
The Ultimate Artist read through the instructions once more, holding the lit candle in one hand and the Necronomicon in the other.  
"Burn it, sprinkle the ashes onto the effigy of the deceased and close your eyes until you feel a tap on the shoulder, hmm?" Angie summarised, gazing into the wax Rantaro's emerald eyes as she spoke. She held out the book and candle at arm's length, holding the burning wick of the candle to the Necronomicon until the flame caught. She quickly placed the now-alight book on the floor, standing at a considerable distance until the burning ceased and all that was left was a pile of ash.

  
Yonaga crouched before it, covering her hands with her sleeves to gather a handful of the ashes of the Necronomicon. She turned to face the statue of Amami, rising to stand on her toes in order to pour the greyish powder in her palms over the wax effigy's head. Remembering the steps in the book, the Ultimate closed her eyes and shook off her hands to rid them of any remaining ash while she waited for results. She waited one second.

Two seconds.

Four seconds.

  
With five came a faint tap on her yellow-clad shoulder.  
She spun on her heel, mouth splitting into a wide, radiant grin and eyes opening to see the student she'd brought back.  
When she met Rantaro's eyes, he staggered back in horror, lips parting wordlessly and the look in his eyes becoming vacant. The green haired male dropped to his knees, left hand reaching to tentatively brush the back of his skull.  
Angie's smile dropped from her face as a guttural cry spilled from Amami's throat, voice filled with an emotion neither Angie nor her beloved Atua could place.


	2. rebalance

When he awoke to a scream and not Monokuma's whining voice, Shuuichi's first thought was,  
_If I can get there fast enough, I'll know the culprit before they can tamper with any evidence._  
The detective mentally chided himself for jumping to such a decision - to say that he wouldn't be able to save anyone.  
To hell with the self-proclaimed student council's rules — Shuuichi would wake Kaito and find out what was going on.  
Shuuichi ignored the part of him that said he would only be useful if someone had died, instead opting to focus on pulling on his shirt. He reached for the door handle, and opened it to Kaito about to press the doorbell.

  
"Shuuichi! I was just about to grab you. You heard that sound too, right?"  
Shuuichi nodded quickly, subconsciously reaching to tug at a hat he no longer wore.

  
"Yeah. We…we should go. If someone's trying to commit murder, we shouldn't waste any more time." The blue-haired male murmured, already breaking into a jog.  
"Did you bring your Monopad?" Shuichi added, glancing over his shoulder to see Kaito already offering it out.

  
"Yeah. Grabbed it on my way out," Kaito began, sighing and rubbing the back of his head. "You're the detective. Any idea where that yell came from?"

  
Shuichi furrowed his brow. It had been faint, masculine and indistinct - definitely on another floor, and probably not close to the dorms.

  
"I'd say someone's research lab, maybe one of those empty seance rooms?" he mused, slowing as he spoke to the aspiring astronaut. "We'll just have to split up when we get closer, and search from there. Maybe figure out a signal if —"  
Kokichi appeared out of seemingly nowhere, horselike giggling echoing through the halls.

"Whatcha need to talk to the space idiot that you can't tell me about, Shuuichi? I thought we were friends!" Ouma declared, bursting into dramatic crocodile tears.

  
"This isn't the time for your games, Ouma. Someone could be dying." Kaito snapped, saving Shuuichi from having to try and hold a meaningful conversation with the dictator.

  
Kokichi's expression reverted to his usual grin, and he laced his fingers behind his head.  "No need to hurry so much. Nobody's dying." he said casually, violet gaze carefully meeting Shuuichi's yellow one.

  
"How can you be so sure?" Shuuichi pressed, walking forward despite the leader's words.

   
"Well," Kokichi began, deliberately dragging out his words, "Does my beloved Saihara-chan really think someone being murdered would just scream? Fear can focus your mind a lot, yknow. Most people would scream for help, or the name of the person who's attacking them. The would-be killer would have to scrap their plan, since everyone would know who did it."

  
Before Shuuichi could decide on a response, Momota pushed forward — both literally and with an answer.

"Stop screwin' around, Kokichi. You probably stabbed someone and now you're trying to talk your way outta suspicion!"  
Ouma eyed the Ultimate calmly, before transferring his attention back to flicking dirt from underneath his fingernails.

  
"Yeah, I guess that'd make sense to someone as dumb as you," Kokichi agreed, "But the thing is, my super-secret organisation is actually a vigilante group! It's against our code of conduct to even think about murder!"  
_Is…is this the same organisation Kokichi always threatens will kill me if I lose a game to him?!_ Saihara asked himself, severely confused by Kokichi's contradictions.  
"Shuuichi, let's just go. We're not gonna get anywhere if we just listen to his nonsense."  
Although Momota and his 'sidekick' had begun to walk away, Kokichi trailed after them and continued to talk.

  
"If you guys weren't so dumb that you actually cared about Angie and her rules, you'd know that the scream came from her lab. I've been walking around out here the whole night, see?"

Kokichi called out in a surprising show of helpfulness. Kaito muttered something indecipherable under his breath, turning on his heel and walking in the direction of the Ultimate Artist's lab, detective and dictator in tow.

___

Standing outside Yonaga's door were the obvious pairing of Tenko and Himiko, one rubbing her eyes sleepily and the other knocking on Angie's door, an expression of utter frustration creasing her brow.  
Upon seeing the three boys, the martial artist's face contorted into one of distaste, stepping in front of the redhead protectively.

  
"Stop!" she barked, holding her hands out defensively. "Degenerates like you shall not get any closer to someone as pure and wonderful as Himiko! You might completely drain her MP just by getting any closer!"  
The magician tugged at her hat, hiding her face but clearly pleased to have been referred to as the mage she considered herself to be. However, she quickly adjusted back to her usual, tired demeanour. "Nyeh… what are you guys doing here? Only the student council are allowed out past the nighttime announcement…"

  
"But you were the ones who made those rules. They aren't official regulations like the ones on the Monopad. It isn't exactly fair to enforce them," Shuuichi pointed out.

  
"Besides, you think we'd ignore someone yelling like that? As Kaito Momota, Luminary of the Stars, it's my job to protect you guys! If someone's getting hurt, I'm not gonna just stand around doing nothing!" the aspiring astronaut added, bringing his fists together in front of him.  
Before Kokichi could say anything to provoke Chabashira, Shuuichi took control of the discussion.

  
"Uh, is Angie not letting you in? You're in her council, so I don't see why she wouldn't."  
Himiko fidgeted with the hem of her skirt, averting her eyes from the small crowd watching her.  
"I think she said something about carrying out Atua's will…? I would've cast a memory charm on myself, but I didn't sleep enough and now I'm too low on mana." the redhead summarised with a yawn.  
Shuuichi decided not to pay attention to Kokichi's laughter behind him.  
If his original assumption was correct, and someone had screamed because they were being attacked, then Angie had no chance in a trial. The sound had come from her lab, and she was the only one with a key.  
However, if Kokichi was to be believed, then the scream was for a different reason. It hadn't sounded like Angie's voice, so who out of the people not present could've been in her lab and making that sound?

Shuuichi did not have to wait long for answers, with the Ultimate Artist opening her door with a radiant smile on her face. Before anyone had a chance to speak, she raised her hands above her head and trilled,  
"Hmm? Not all of you are in the Student Council. It's past curfew, yknow…" She paused, a smile curving her lips. "Well, Atua willed it, so I used the Necronomicon to bring back Rantarou!"

Shuuichi barely registered Kokichi excitedly darting into the lab, Himiko's questions about the magic involved, Kaito's false offers of protecting his sidekick from ghosts and Tenko's disgust at the revived being a degenerate. He stared glassily at a spot just behind Angie, where against the paint-splattered wall sat Amami, head in his hands and unmoving save for the unsteady rise and fall of his chest.  
It was an ugly cocktail of nausea and shame that rose in his chest the moment he thought,  
Why didn't she revive Kaede instead?  
He was supposed to be happy that someone had been revived at all, right? Besides, it made sense that the obsessively religious Angie wouldn't want to bring back a killer; Amami, with all the fuss Monokuma had made of things the green-haired male knew, would be the obvious decision in her eyes.  
The only reason Shuuichi had been able to ignore her preaching was because he simply never thought the Necronomicon would work. He'd seen the crime scenes his uncle investigated and he'd seen the corpses of his friends. Death was death and that was fact.  
Yet, Rantarou was very much alive, half-lidded eyes staring blankly at an overexcited Kokichi.  
Kaito's hand on the detective's shoulder dragged him forcefully out of his own head.

  
"Dude, you okay? You look like really pale, like you're about to faint or something."  
Shuuichi rested a hand he didn't know was shaking on the doorframe, fingers drumming a nervous song on the wall. How should he answer? Was lying an option? Momota probably wouldn't realise even if he did, as long as Ouma didn't call him out on it.

  
"Ah, no. I'm good. Just a little shocked, that's all." Saihara reassured both Kaito and himself, inhaling carefully and following his friend into the research lab, where Angie was telling Himiko how only Atua's divine power could have brought Amami back. Rantarou sat up upon seeing Saihara, jade eyes flickering with interest.  
When the green-haired Ultimate opened his mouth to speak, Saihara heard only the warped notes of Der Flohwalzer.

This time, he had no hat to hide behind.


	3. regain

**_Welcome, MM53. Please input a command._ **

OPEN ("52")

  
_ >> Folder "52" has been opened._

  
FIND (sub:"character saves")

  
_> > Subfolder "Character Saves" has been opened._

  
DESTROY ("AI02" to "AI16")

  
_> > Are you sure you want to destroy .CAI files "AI02" to "AI16"? _

  
AFFIRM (COMMAND"DESTROY…")

  
>> 15 .CAI files have been destroyed.  
INSERT ("AI01" into "cochlea:AR53"

  
_> > Are you sure you want to use "AI01.CA1" in "cochlea:AR53"?_

  
AFFIRM (COMMAND"INSERT…")

  
_ >> AI01 has been inserted into cochlea:AR53._

  
AUTOPRUNE (recall function/""52":02" to "16")

  
_ >> Are you sure you want to set "recall function" for folder "52" and subfolders "02" to "16" to autoprune?_

  
AFFIRM (COMMAND"AUTOPRUNE…")

  
_ >> Recall function for 52:02 to 16 has been set to autoprune._

  
MEMORYLOCK (keywords "shotput", "perk", "hidden door", "danganronpa")

  
MEMORYLOCK (event "death//DAY")

  
MEMORYLOCK (talent "Survivor")

  
MEMORYADD (talent (52) "Adventurer")

CLOSEALL ("52","53")

  
_ >> Closing folders "52" and "53"._

  
APPEAR (("MONOKUMA5301" in "LAB/ARANYO")modesilent) 

 CLOSE ("mmcommands")

_> > Closing folder "mmcommands"._

* * *

 

Shuichi sat in the courtyard with Kaito, vaguely listening to the astronaut's enthused speech about space whilst invested in sorting through his own thoughts. 

An uncomfortable sensation settled on his chest, coiling around his ribcage like a snake poised to crush its prey. Monokuma simply giving them their classmate back felt far too easy for Shuichi's liking; too much like they were playing into the bear's hands - or, as the case happened to be, paws. He and his children seemed so delighted to see the sixteen of them become fourteen and the fourteen become twelve. Bringing someone _back_  didn't fit the pattern at all. Was he even thinking about this the right way? The saying said to not look a gift horse in the mouth, and he was doing just that. Maybe he'd be better off not questioning Monokuma's actions and instead celebrating the return of a friend.

The detective played with an eternally gravity-defying lock of navy blue hair, attention turning back to Momota in time to hear his question about Shuichi's favourite constellation. Glad to have his attention on something other than his conflicting thoughts, Shuichi searched the domed sky for one he could recognise.

It was with reluctance that he gave up on identifying any of them; blaming bad memory and the fact that he was not the Ultimate Astronaut for a reason.

"I don't really have a favourite," he replied with a heavy shrug.

 

* * *

Kaito and his sidekicks arrived at breakfast to find the room decorated in streamers and banners likely salvaged from the warehouse. They weren't particularly appropriate for the occasion of a revival or a killing game, with most containing the phrases ' _CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR ENGAGEMENT_ ', ' _HAPPY BIRTHDAY'_ or something along similar lines. Angie was sitting triumphantly on Gonta's shoulders, leading the student council in some kind of celebratory Atua-centric hymn. That was to say, the student council minus Kiibo, who was sitting by dejectedly whilst complaining to Miu about his lack of a singing voicebank. This conversation was punctuated with the occasional sarcastic remark from Ouma, all of which were met with vigorous protests about robophobia.

The newly alive Amami didn't seem particularly affected by the noise. He was calmly sitting across from Kokichi, having become enlisted in painting the Ultimate Supreme Leader's nails various, increasingly dramatic shades of purple. 

Shuuichi couldn't help but feel out of place amongst the high spirits of his friends. Even Kiyo, who usually seemed to hold them at arm's length, was enjoying himself - or at least, he thought so. It wasn't exactly easy to tell whether the anthropologist was smiling or eating beneath that mask. Angie, still perched on Gonta's shoulders,  turned to the new arrivals with a smile. 

"Atua said we should throw a party to thank Him for His generosity!" she proclaimed, leaning towards them over Gonta's mess of hair with a handful of confetti that Shuuichi barely dodged.

"Wasn't it Monokuma who gave us the Necronomicon..?" Shuuichi murmured to the distracted Kaito and Maki. The assassin had only been given a brief synopsis of the early morning's events, and was staring down Kaito with thinly veiled confusion and disgust (presumably about the party, not Amami) engraved on her face. She looked from Kaito to Angie to the decorations to Rantarou, before sighing and dragging Momota to the kitchen to get food and a better explanation. This left Shuuichi to choose between holding a conversation with the extremely unnerving Kiyo, having to listen to innuendos about what Miu planned to do to Kiibo, getting in the middle of a debate about robophobia, whatever prayer Angie had roped her council into singing, and Amami.

 _Kaito's always saying how I should face my problems head on_ , _right_? Shuuichi reasoned with himself, and moved to sit beside the green-haired Ultimate. Rantarou greeted him with the same smile he'd been wearing on the day they'd met, when he'd apologised for his memory loss and insisted he wasn't as bad a guy as he seemed. 

"Hey, Shuuichi. Want anything to eat?" Amami began, gesturing towards a platter of bagels. "We found them in the fridge with all the other magically appearing food." Himiko, whose attention had been caught by the mention of magic, scowling and muttered something to Tenko about bagel tricks only being used by magicians, not mages. 

Kokichi, never one to pass up on making fun of other people's talents, interjected with, "Oh, then Himiko must've been the one who put them there! You finally did something useful!"

Shuuichi decided to ignore Tenko's loud defense of Yumeno in favour of picking at a bagel. He desperately wanted to pretend he wasn't grateful to have several of the more… _colourful_  personalities standing between him and a conversation with Amami, considering how unsuccessful the one they'd had just hours ago had been - that is, if it could even be counted as a conversation. The certain, assertive Saihara that had surfaced during Kirumi's trial completely dissolved the moment he'd entered Angie's lab, all of Kaito's work to bring him out of his shell vanishing. In other words, he'd panicked, resorting to nodding or making a vague noise of assent whenever anyone said something he agreed with.

"Ah, Rantarou - " he started, only to be interrupted by Maki and Kaito arriving with coffee. By the time they'd settled down with their breakfast, Shuuichi noticed both Amami and Ouma had gone.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There are a few important plot details at various places in this chapter. Some are more obvious than others, aha.  
> Thank you for reading.


	4. record

**VIEW(52SHSL_FL.MEM)**

_The girl is watching him intently with rose-coloured eyes. He finishes speaking, and she smiles softly in lieu of a reply, shaking her head and laughing from behind the shadow of her hand. Her voice is faint - like the light of a candle in a dark room. She turns away from him, winding slim fingers through tufts of grass._

_"Hey,  ☐☐☐☐☐-kun," she murmurs, still playing with the grass but eyes now set on the cage of sky, "I kinda wish it'd rain."_

_He must look confused, because she smiles again and shrugs. She extends a hand towards the heavens._

_"Ah, I'm sorry," she begins, tracing patterns into the inky black night, "That was a weird thing to say. I just miss things like that."_

_He must have replied, because she's laughing again now, drawing umbrellas and clouds and stickfigures amongst  stars._

 

**> > Folder "52SHSL_FL.MEM" has been autopruned and erased.**

**VIEW(52_INV.MEM)**

_The boy's eyes burn with an ugly cocktail of confusion and rage. He is glaring down the corpse at his feet, though his anger is not directed towards her. When he hears him approach, the boy turns around sharply, putting himself between the body as if it will do what remains of her any good._

_"Don't come near ☐☐☐☐☐-chan," he hisses, brow affixed into a scowl that doesn't suit him. "I'll find out who did it myself. I'll find out who did it and I'll kill them myself! What did she do to deserve," he gestures towards the corpse, "this?! Answer me, Monokuma! You know the truth, don't you?! Tell me!"  
_

_The bear laughs in response, single red eye flickering with what could only be called amusement._

_"Upupupu! You have the whole trial to find out the truth, don't you? Don't make me do all your dirty work!"_

 

 **> > File "52** **_INV.MEM" has been autopruned and erased.**

 -

Amami stood in front of the warehouse, debating whether the instant suspicion of being seen in the warehouse was worth the nail polish remover he hoped to find. The place had far too many murder weapons for his or anyone else's liking. The more important matter on his mind, however, was how in the world the nail polish had got on his nails. When he'd painted Akamatsu's nails, the polish had been pink. When he'd painted Ouma's that morning, they'd been purple. However, the chipped paint on his hands was the same grass green as his hair. Amami wasn't the Ultimate Artist for good reason, but he was at least certain that purple and pink did not make green.

…Pink, like the haze that clung to his memories of the day he died like a child to their mother. Amami could deal with not knowing his talent, but he didn't like not knowing anything about the entire day he died. Moment of death? He wasn't even sure he'd want to remember it if he could - but not knowing anything before that just didn't sit well with him. It felt too convenient - it suited the mastermind everyone was so convinced existed far too well especially when he considered the perk —

That sudden memory lapse, too, was uncomfortably convenient. He'd vaguely considered bringing the matter up with Saihara, their resident detective, only to be quashed by a nagging, distant voice that scratched words into the corners of  of his mind.

 _It's better, it's safer,_ the voice would whisper, clawing an ugly solo into his hippocampus, _if you just don't trust anyone. The mastermind could be anyone. You let your guard down, got complacent, and ended up with a metal ball to the head for your efforts._

In response, Amami traced Monokuma heads and shotput balls into the dust coating the library's shelves and the walls of the bathrooms, drowning out the voice that chided him for wanting to rely on others by humming a song he didn't remember the lyrics of and didn't remember hearing. 

The voice in his head asked him where he'd heard it. Rantarou didn't have an answer, so he switched songs. 

He didn't remember where he'd heard that one either, but it didn't seem as important as nail polish that couldn't be explained away and precious moments of his life that remained visible only through the kaleidoscope of an atrophied hippocampus.

-

The mastermind smiles and unhurriedly clicks to a different camera.

-

The Ultimate Inventor's lab smelled hideously of machine oil and chemicals, and was near silent without the self-proclaimed 'gorgeous girl genius' to fill what little space wasn't already covered in scrap metal and half-soldered circuits. The occasional whirr of motors and occasional beep of a computer on standby faded easily into the background, becoming steadily more quiet yet never quite becoming completely inaudible. 

The inventor wouldn't miss a single piece of metal taken from a pile of discarded prototypes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again, various plot points in here. Some more obvious than others.  
> The first part of this is a reference to an upcoming project of mine.


End file.
